Kuwait to vet civil servants’ degrees to expose fakes

Cairo: Kuwait plans to examine the education certificates of all employees at different government agencies dating back to the year 2000 as part of efforts to expose forged degrees, a Kuwaiti newspaper has reported.

Al Rai, citing “well-informed” sources, said the state Civil Service Commission has asked all ministries and government institutions to furnish it with full data on their employees’ university education certificates related to all national and expatriate workers.

The commission has pointed out that its request comes in response to directives from the government on conducting an equivalence process for degrees above the high school education obtained from abroad.

The commission has also requested listing names and data of government employees holding above-high school degrees obtained since January 1, 2000 onwards. The process applies to Kuwaiti and foreign employees, according to the report.

The list should also include copies of the degrees, majors, the alma mater university, the home country and the equivalent certificate approved by the Kuwaiti Ministry of High Education.

The measure is part of government efforts in Kuwait to thoroughly examine certificates and expose the forged degrees after a three-member committee, formed by the Council of Ministers to verify education certificates, has requested access to basic data to enable it to revise suspected documents.

In case a fake degree is detected, the competent agencies will be notified to take legal action, including revocation of the holder’s employment.

Foreigners make up some 3.2 million of Kuwait’s overall population of 4.6 million.